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Monday, June 18, 2007

I'm a freedom writer!

*joyful mood* (writing with background music: Salaam by Raihan & Miloud Zenasni)

Hello!! Hello people!! How's life going on? Hope you're in the best of health always, insyaAllah. It has been hectic this past 2,3 weeks filled with medical journals, report-writing, referencing (if you've done a thesis before, you'll know how HARD this is!), birthday-present-shopping, chapter editting, abstract constructing, scientific write-ups and living. Hah. I hope you feel suffocated enough just by reading that long list of things to do (note: almost done) cause it did almost actually strangled me. But anyway, enough exaggerations on my life, all is well for now. Don't you guys worry about me! Hehhe. Perasan tu orang risaukan saya.

Albeit the fact that I only just hyperbolized how hectic my life was, I'd like to admit that I managed to squeeze almost 2 hours of a movie last Friday into the chaos. I watched The Freedom Writers. Honestly, I was truly inspired!! I'm not going to elaborate on the technical aspects like who starred or how much the budget for the movie was or was the director famous or not or whether the movie actually hit box office. I have focused rather on the ideals of the movie itself. Oh, just so you'd know, this movie was based on a true story. Go google: The Freedom Writers.

A short summary on the movie; Erin Gruwell began teaching English at Wilson High School in California. Her students lived in a city that was racially divided, and her classroom reflected those divisions. Gruwell’s classroom, Room 203, had been a type of dumping ground for students with academic and disciplinary problems. In short, they were all children who were left behind. Her students knew the cost of gang violence and other social ills first hand, and Gruwell was able to reach them by finding literature that her students could relate to. Books like Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo showed her students that there are other youngsters who had grown up in war zones and had faced similar prejudices. Her pupils, despite the system’s low expectations for them, eventually made it to college.

**

Alright peeps, so, this is me trying to imitate a professional movie critic:

Notion 1 - Despite the propaganda of the American Goverment trying to act like "leader" (yeah right!) of the free world and fighting against terrorism, their own people are living in terror against interracial gang warfare and racism. Rather than channelling resources into solving internal racial tensions and gang violance they waste money and man-force to a fabricated war against a so called group of terrorists. Perhap the Bush administration should really be thrown into the bushes.

Notion 2 - The Holocaust was hyped to an extra extra larger scale than it really was. No, I'm definitely not advocating at all what the Nazis did during the period of WWII. What they did was a blatant disregard and sheer disrespect to the dignity of the human race the world over. However, it should also be noted that the Roma, Soviet prisoner-of-wars, disabled people, political prisoners and several other groups of people were also slain, NOT JUST the Jews. So, for them to tune the limelight onto themselves merely for the sake of getting support to ambush and take hold of the Palestinian land is an act that should be annihilated and annuled by anyone who honestly have a right mind! What they are doing now is EXACTLY what have been done onto them once upon a time, a deed that they themselves strived to fight against. And whatever did the people of Palestine do to deserve such a punishment? (er.. punished for what anyway?)

Notion 3 - If you haven't read The Diary of Anne Frank.. well you should go and buy and read it at once! The mind of an inquisitive 13-year-old girl can really provide you with lessons of life (nevermind that she was a Jew, lessons are still lessons regardless of source) that will amaze even an intelligent full-grown adult . Believe me. Read this book.

Notion 4 - One should take into citation what Miep Gies (the Austrian woman who helped to hide the Frank family during the reign of the Nazis at the expanse of her own life) said in the movie, the scene goes as follows;

One of the students says to her, “I’ve never had a hero before, but you are my hero.”

Her answer is, “No, no, young man. No, I am not a hero.
I did what I had to do because it was the right thing to do. That is all. No, we are all ordinary people, but even an ordinary secretary, or housewife, or teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room. Yeah? I have read your letters and your teacher has been telling me many things about your experiences. You are the heroes. You are heroes every day.

But one should also remember that to DO the RIGHT thing, you first have to know what's right and what's wrong. Thus, it is crucial to make sure your goal in life is true to your believes and that you are on the right path, always and I repeat, ALWAYS.

**

Right. So, there it is, my thoughts during and after the movie. Some of it are facts, some of it are purely my humble musings. You may or may not acknowledge it, I give you that right. But I hope that it had at least triggered that gray matter of yours (note: to whoever is reading this lah, hehhe) to always see beyond face value and er... to go see this movie!!! Hehehehe. =P

Reminder for myself: Cakap/tulis/type senang, nak buat tak semudah itu, maka, berusahalah. Jangan duk goyang kaki dan berangan-angan lagi ye Cik Arifah oi!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i cried watching freedom writers.during and after.the movie touched my heart!

Mai Shahira said...

hye! salam..
that movie sounds nice...i think i have to make sure to go and watch it once i'm back in msia!
yup your comment was there..on the previous previous entry... thanks yea!! ;)
anyway...betul2, i'm in the same uni as mira (here in leicester)... heheh housemate lagi tu.. what a small world it is kan? ;p

tenkostar said...

great notions! saya sangat respect + bersetuju with the statements. :-)

p/s: happy swotting~ LoL

ifos said...

oh wow... gotta watch the movie then... such a strong review from you. Hehe. About Palestine: we know the world isn't black and white, but I honestly can't see any grey areas in this issue. It's crystal clear it amazes me that some people can be so blind and ignorant... and handed Bush his second term. human beings are too funny.